Thrill of the Chase
by XxBloodsbanexX
Summary: She realized that her lungs were beginning to burn... For a few seconds nothing would stay in one place, make any sense whatsoever... Never be able to tell Manny how... Two clawed hands... She screamed... Rated T for safty... MannyXFrida One-Shot


**This is my first El Tigre anything, so I hope you all enjoy it. Please Review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own El Tigre. I do own the plot, though, so I hope no one steals it- at least, not without permission of course.**

**But seriously. Don't. Thanks. Read. **

**Also, there is a spanish phrase at the bottom of the fic and I'm not sure if it is correct. Please forgive me - I used a English to Spanish translater on the internet and I'm not sure if it is wrong or not. I hope you get the jist of it, though.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

Thrill of the Chase

It was a mid-summers day. The air was humid, but a cool wind came from somewhere beyond the outline of Miracle city. Thin clouds drifted by, giving only bits of shade for the inhabitants below. In the air was the thick and distinct smell of crime and villainy that most of the people had come to know and live by. The roads that day were quiet, the stone buildings dusty and dry as the air. The heat of the sun broke through the valiant attempts of coolness from the wind and bore down mercilessly. Perhaps in the Land of the Dead, they could hear the red giant chuckling darkly to itself.

She realized that her lungs were beginning to burn. How long had she been running, anyway? Twenty minutes? Hadn't she lost him by now? Looking down at the road and seeing that shadow beside her own told her that she hadn't. Frida's sapphire blue eyes widened in despair - how was she ever going to get away?

The girl, running quickly down the deserted street of Miracle City jumped off of the pavement and onto the back of a car, which sat parked along the sidewalk. Gasping, she looked to her right at a store front window. Through the bold white letters that read the stores name she could see him leaping from the roofs of buildings behind her. He was close.

Running off the car, Frida jetted down the street and kept her eyes peeled for any type of escape route. Maybe if she could just get him down from the roofs he would have a harder time tracking her. A thought ran through her head. If she left the city and ran for the mountains, she might still have a chance! He wouldn't be able to keep a very good eye on her from above, and the rocky terrain would make it difficult for him to track her down on foot. She would be able to keep herself hidden in a cave or ditch until he gave up.

Strengthened at the thought of a full proof escape plan, Frida sped up a few notches and took in her surroundings. She was headed towards the Miracle City bank. Frida could see there were still repairs being made from El Oso's last - vain - attempt at robbing it. That meant Frida was exactly a quarter of a mile from city limits. She could make it, she told herself. She just needed to loose him, if only for a moment, and then keep running.

A shadow ran across her. Frida - who had never been good at ignoring such ominous signs as a signal not to look - daringly glanced over her shoulder. She could see him no longer.

Panic seized Frida's pounding heart. It sounded like a galloping herd of stallions running across a wide plain. Sweat weaved like tadpoles down her blushing cheeks and dripped into a puddle between her black boots. One of Frida's suspenders had been cut in two, and the girl was forced to tie it around her waist like a belt to keep her red pants from falling. The girls white tank top had left her flat stomach exposed to the elements. At the moment it was heaving up and down with each of the girls breathes. There was a sudden gust of cold wind; Frida coughed and reflexively reached up for her bright red goggles, as if looking for reassurance that they hadn't been blown away.

Speeding down the road Frida's wired brain suddenly registered that there was an alleyway approaching. Almost too late, Frida jumped sideways and turned to run between the two buildings. But the girl had been running very fast - faster then she had ever run, she thought - and wasn't able to make the sharp turn without consequences.

Frida felt her feet fly out from under her. Her body was falling to the ground without politely consulting her brain about it first. The girls cheek made sharp contact with the cracked sidewalk. She hissed as her teeth rammed together right onto the tip of her tongue.

Frida's body and mind were thrown into a temporary frenzied state. For a few seconds nothing would stay in one place, make any sense whatsoever. A wet pool of blood was filling her cheeks. Fuzzy black dots danced before Frida's eyes, and she blinked them away. And all at once, she was in control again.

Pushing herself off of the ground and spitting out the blood, she ignored the pain in her side and hastily ran down the dark alley. She could hear her pursuer high above her. He must have noticed her change in direction, for the sound of claws sounded out against the wooden roof to Frida's right. He was changing direction, too.

Leaping through piles of dirt and garbage, Frida darted through the maze of alleyways, all the time heading north - at least she hoped she was.

Eventually, through the glistening wetness of perspiration and humidity, Frida was able to see a thick, tall wall before her. In the wall was a enormous crack. Beyond the crack you could see the yellow expanse of land and rock stretching. Safety. Freedom.

She ran faster.

Her shoulder hit a pip that hung down from a gutter. Frida yelled in shock and found herself being pushed from the first wall and into the second. The blows knocked the wind out of her already raw lungs. The girl gasped for air as her knees buckled before her. No! she screamed in her head. I haven't told you to do that! Stop it! I can still get away!

Narrowing her eyes and gasping in effort, Frida pushed herself up from the ground a second time. Running for the crack in the wall, she lowered her head and tried to make her shoulders go closer to her body. Jumping, she leaped for her only escape...

... and was caught in the middle of the thick wall by her goggles.

The disappointment that ran through Frida's tired limbs was enough to make her eyes sting with tears. No! This wasn't happening! He would be right behind her. In a mere minute, he would be on the ground and he would see that she was still within arms reach of capture. Frida was doomed.

Her mind began the traditional - and not unfamiliar - act of playing Frida's life before her eyes. It was like a movie, what she was seeing. She saw the day she first went to school, and the day she met Manny, and the day she got her guitarra. Frida remembered the day Manny had given her very own Frida belt, and the day she had become La Tigresa. She saw the day she lost her goggles (she had cried for half an hour before her father found them in the Where All The Lost Things Go drawer) and the day she had her first Churro. Oh sweet, sweet delicious churros.

Than Frida began to think of all of the things she would never be able to do. She would never get to be better then her sisters. Never would she be able to become a true super villain (or superhero, whichever worked out best), and she would never be able to tell Manny how she really felt...

No more Manny, no more adventures, no more music, no more... How many churros had she been cheated out of!?

Frida struggled, but it was no use; her goggles were caught between the concrete tightly and they wouldn't budge. The girl whined at the thought of taking off her goggles and leaving them behind. She couldn't leave her goggles!

Two clawed hands caught onto Frida's legs, just above her boots. She screamed. "No! Noooooo! I want to _live!"_

Behind her there was a despicably evil chuckle, and this caused Frida to thrash more. Never mind her goggles - she just had to get away!

Frida found that as her attacker pulled her legs, trying to keep her from escaping, he was also loosening her goggles. Devising a plan, Frida went limp and let her body hang. Her attacker seemed pleased for he dug his claws gently into her flesh and pulled a bit harder. With a scraping sound, Frida's goggles were free!

And so was she.

Yelling in triumph, Frida shot out her right leg. His cry of pain told the girl that she had hit her mark. Crawling faster then any bug in Miracle City, Frida found her way to the other side.

The air was much more dry beyond the wall. A shifting haze veiled all that Frida could see. She began to sweat again. He would jump over the wall soon enough; she had to get going.

Climbing out of the crack, Frida's feet found the firm dusty ground and she began running once more. A sharp wind tussled her light blue hair and for a second she couldn't see anything. Tripping over a rock, she yelled and fell awkwardly in a sideways motion. Instinctively her hands shot out to cushion her fall, but only managed to get scrapped and bloodied in the process. Frida mentally slapped herself. If she kept falling over everything and nothing, she might as well put a sign on her head that said: **Clumsy Little Girl for Dinner. Come And Get Her While She Still Hasn't Killed Herself!**

Grumbling, Frida used a larger rock as support and lifted herself up. Her hands were bleeding pretty badly; the blood soaked onto the yellow rock and ran down its surface. The panicked girl was forced to acknowledge that breathing had become a bit difficult for her, and that her knees didn't seem to want to stay on her body. Sweat dotted her face and arms. She wouldn't be able to go on for much longer.

Sniffling, Frida scanned the area around her. She hadn't heard anybody follow her on her way beyond the city. The scene was bland and empty. A lone tumbleweed ran before a flat area behind Frida, picking up dust. There were no moving shadows, no rustling foliage, no dust floating in the air. Everything was quiet and still. Frida wasn't sure if it was good or bad.

Slowly sinking to the ground, Frida fought to catch her breath and looked around. There! A few yards away there was a rock overhanging two large boulders. The area inside looked deep and dark like a cave. If she could make it over there, maybe the girl would be able to keep hidden long enough for the danger to pass by.

Frida narrowed her blue eyes. Keeping close to the ground, she listened for any suspicious sounds before inhaling a deep breath. Shooting from her possession, Frida made a mad dash for the cave. Jumping over smaller rocks, she was determined not to trip over herself again. Only one yard... a few feet... she would make it!

"Aha!"

"What!?"

Frida turned and saw in horror that her pursuer was falling like black star from the sky. He landed square on her shoulders. Frida yelled as they fell to the ground. Her adrenaline pulsed, blood flowed to her head and ears, roaring, and muffling anything her attacker was saying. The girl violently struggled to get out of his grip. "No! You'll never take me alive, you filthy stupid stinky rotton -"

As Frida's flailing elbow connected with something, she stopped her rant. The adrenaline was beginning to slow down. The blood was flowing now into all parts of her body. She felt herself being thrown onto her back and a weight rested on her chest. The clawed hands held onto her twitching wrists and something was holding her knees tightly together.

"Frida, calm down!"

Opening her eyes, Frida looked up to see Manny. Something red was in his eyebrows and had run down the bridge of his nose. His jaw, just below his left eye was turning a nasty shade of purple and he too was breathing as heavily as Frida. The girl took in his appearance in time with her breaths, and unknowingly, the two of them began inhaling and exhaling at the same time.

The wind ruffled Manny's golden fur and his red bandana. His legs, which were straddling Frida's lower abdomen, began to move. He unleashed her wrists and unwrapped his tail which he had wound around the girls knees.

Manny helped to pull Frida off of the ground. The girl was still a bit dazed.

"Are you alright, Frida?" Manny asked in a curious voice. Dusting off her head and shoulders, he helped her to stand upright. "You know, you really take this game seriously. Maybe we shouldn't play it anymore?"

"No, no. I'm fine. I just get... caught up in the moment," Frida said weakly. She had gained control over her legs once again. Checking that her goggles were not cracked, and that nothing important was exposed, she tried to fix her misshapen hair.

Manny looked amused but unconvinced. "And look at what you did to your hands! You're Papi is going to murder me!"

"My dad won't dare touch you," Frida told him. She checked her boots, which were grey with dust. "He loves me more then he hates you... I think. He knows killing you would upset me. And anyway, it's not like you did any of this."

Manny shook his head at his friends logic. "Whatever. I still feel bad." Frida gasped as El Tigre picked her up bridal style. A faint blush graced her cheeks. "C'mon, let me treat you to some ice-cream. Grandpapi gave me a few bucks before we left; I could go for some right about now."

"Sure, um, ok," was Frida's answer, but she doubted he had heard her. She could barely hear herself over the pounding of her psycho heart.

* * *

"Um, Frida, is that a very good idea?"

Manny licked his soft-serve chocolate ice-cream and watched Frida from beyond the chocolate mountain before his eyes. She was eating her own cone of sugery delight, but it was very... unusual.

"What? No! It makes the ice-cream, like, a gazillion times better!"

"I didn't even know they let you put churros in you ice-cream here."

Frida chuckled and glanced mischievously at one of the staff. "They don't."

In Frida's hand was a mint chocolate-chip ice-cream cone, which had six or seven churros protruding from its surface. The girl was licking the icy treat eagerly. It was indeed the perfect distraction from her many scrapes and bruises, and from the hellfire sun that was slapping Miracle City with mighty blows of heat. Manny was now in his normal outfit, having turned back to himself before they entered the ice-cream shop. His jacket was tied around his waist, exposing the sleeves of his plain white T-shirt. Frida noticed that she was not the only one who had sweated like a pig.

Finishing her ice-cream in an impossibly short amount of time, Frida licked her lips and whipped her mouth with her napkin. "Alright! What're we going to do now?"

Manny took a few licks from his ice-cream, thinking. "We could - "

"Oh! _I_ know!" Frida exclaimed, cutting Manny off. "We could go find El Oso and hypnotize him into thinking that he's a hamster horse, and then ride on his back all around the city while I play awesomeness on my guitarra! Or maybe we could go to the beach and use your powers to make people think your tail is a sand dune worm that sucks out their brains and feeds their bodies to the seagulls. _Or maybe_ we could - "

Manny put a finger on Frida's lips, halting her rapid fire of suggestions. The girl immediately stopped. Her sparkling blue eyes connected with Manny's as the boy stared at her and silently ate the last of his cone. His finger eventually left her lips, sliding across Frida's skin to slip a loose strand of hair behind her reddening ear. It seemed - at least in Frida's mind - that the boy was taking his precious time about it, too.

Suddenly he grinned at her and sat up straight. "Do you wanna pretend Sartana put a spell on you that made you limp as a rag doll and tell my Papi that the only way to save you was if he gave us a ride around Miracle City one-hundred _times_?"

Frida cursed how quickly Manny's touch had left her skin. But the sixteen-year-olds childish side was already returning. Imagine, being carried around Miracle City one-hundred times by White Pantera, the superhero who's super macho boots let him run faster than anything Frida had ever seen!

"Heck yes!" she yelled, alerting the other occupants of the shop. Manny laughed and grinned, and together they ran out of the glass doors and into the streets. Frida instantly went over to Manny - now El Tigre once more - and allowed him to carry her to his house via roof jumping. As they neared, Frida snuck a look up at Manny's face. Underneath his mask, his brown eyes shone in the sunlight; Frida could see small flecks of green shining near the irises. He was still grinning, and his sharp canine teeth could be seen now. Frida's arms were wrapped instinctively around the boy's neck. As they jumped from roof to roof, Frida began to feel more and more relaxed in the boy's grasp. The chase they had been in only half an hour earlier was beginning to take effects on poor Frida's body. Unable to stop herself, Frida felt her eyelids sliding downwards. Her breathes became soft and even. She let the wind blow through her hair and slowly, as to not be noticed, she settled her ear on Manny's chest. She could hear his heartbeat like the beating of a drum, faintly.

Just before she lost consciousness, Frida settled her lips on a small bit of exposed flesh just above Manny's bandana. She hoped the boy wouldn't notice.

Manny, who was clearing another rooftop, had noticed. As they leaped closer to his house, a small smiled played on his lips and he pulled Frida's body closer.

He really loved playing El Juego Que Persigue


End file.
